I have to admit. I usually mark most of the press releases that pop up in my inbox as spam. After all, I’m of the mind that these typically untargeted e-mails are just as insidious as the random penile enhancement e-mails my spam folder actually catches.
But then I received an e-mail about InternInc — a new social networking site that touts itself as “Facebook meets LinkedIn for students, employers and universities” — and I was intrigued. I’ve always thought that internships were invaluable for gaining experience, making connections, and trying out new industries commitment-free, and a social networking site that connected students with established internship programs sounded, well, genius.
How did you stumble upon your past media internships? I can’t even remember how I found the two internship programs I was accepted into back in college. Career services, maybe? MediaBistro? I do remember that — post-college — I actively targeted the companies I most wanted to break into, ending up in fabulous internship programs with both The Feminist Press and Nerve. Would I have benefited from an internship-based LinkedIn? Or would this have only made me more likely to blanket the entire media industry with desperate cover letters/resumes? Do you wish that something like InternInc had been available way back when? Or do you feel that social media is making people lazy, leading them to rely more often on clever profiles rather than actual legwork?
I’m torn, but if you’re interested in reading more on this new service, 9News has posted an interview with the CEO and founder of the site.
Related: Nothing to do with Luck, My 5 Favorite Things in: Test-Drive Your Dream Job, Continuing Education for Freelancers, Unpaid Internships: Something White People Like!, How to Make It Big While Working for Free
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